Millennials

Many moms got exactly the gift they wanted on Mother’s Day last weekend: time with the kids. For empty nesters, there’s much joy when the house fills up again even for just a few hours. Many of our adult children don’t realize how much we value spending time together. The notion that time together is a perfect gift can seem strange to our millennial children. They have been branded with a reputation as the self-centered and materialistic Generation Me. Indeed …

Last week, the editor of a newspaper in the Pacific Northwest emailed to check a reference for one of my former students. A position had opened up because the editor had let go a staffer who kept misspelling the names of people in photo captions. In another conversation earlier in the week, the owner of a Maryland consulting company mentioned that she routinely eliminates millennial job candidates when they can’t follow basic directions on a writing test. Sound familiar? Supervisors …

For decades, the three-legged stool was the metaphor for funding retirement: Social Security, pensions and savings/investments. Because of the recession and drop in pensions, the stool started to shake. That hasn’t escaped the notice of our adult children as they watch parents head into retirement. The upside of those watchful eyes is that many millennials have begun saving for their own retirement. At an unprecedented age of 22, some 70 percent of working millennials are socking money away, according to …

While waiting in line last week at Starbucks, I realized that I was the only “guest” ordering black coffee — not a grande, no-foam macchiato concoction — and the only person using cash. The mostly millennial customers were flashing a smartphone app or swiping credit or debit cards. The way our adult children spend and save money is very different from their boomer parents. “I want it fast, and I want it now” is the millennial mantra when it comes …

At Passover seders and in Christian churches this week, families will gather to observe the religious holidays. While some adult children will join in, many will do so out of a sense of obligation rather than practice. More than one-third of all millennials say they are “religiously unaffiliated” today, the highest percentage ever in Pew Research Center polling. It’s not just a rite of passage. Both Gen X and boomers were significantly more religiously affiliated as young adults. So why …

For many boomers, the empty nest seems more like the empty bank account. After college, kids boomerang home for a few months or years, driving up monthly household expenses. Even when they leave, they often return to the “Bank of Mom and Dad” for help with costs from new cars to camp for the grandkids. All those added outlays are impacting millions of boomers, causing many to delay or modify retirement plans, according to a new study by Hearts & …